Community & Inclusion

Volunteer in Chennai: MY Bharat, NSS and GCC Monsoon Teams

Three official ways to volunteer in Chennai: MY Bharat online sign-up, NSS through your college, and the Corporation's monsoon relief teams.

15 October 2026

Chennai FalconMr. Parthasarathy aka Chennai Falcon is passionate about…

Updated 2026-10-29, 2:05 AM

The quickest way for a young person in Chennai to find official volunteering is the Union government’s MY Bharat portal. Sign-up takes a mobile number or email and an OTP, and gives you a MY Bharat ID that lists volunteering roles, short field placements and campaigns. A Lok Sabha reply of 3 February 2025 put Tamil Nadu’s registrations at 6,76,430, out of more than 1.65 crore nationally.

For college and Class 11 to 12 students, the older route is the National Service Scheme (NSS), which runs units inside schools and colleges. This month there is also a third, very local option: the Greater Chennai Corporation is lining up volunteers for monsoon relief. Here is how each one works.

MY Bharat: how to register

MY Bharat (Mera Yuva Bharat) was launched in October 2023 by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, according to a December 2024 Lok Sabha reply, which then counted 6,29,027 users from Tamil Nadu. The portal sets out the steps:

Open mybharat.gov.in and choose “Register Now”.
Enter your mobile number or email and verify the six-digit OTP.
Fill in your name, date of birth, gender and category, then state, district, urban or rural area, local body and pincode.
Add education details and pick a “youth type”: NSS, NCC, MY Bharat, Bharat Scouts and Guides, or others.
Accept the terms. You get a unique MY Bharat ID.

Once registered you can apply for “Volunteer for Bharat” roles, experiential learning programmes (hands-on placements with government offices and organisations), quizzes, essay contests, mentorship and leadership programmes. Campaigns listed recently include Nasha Mukt Yuva and TB-Mukt Bharat. Organisations can register as MY Bharat partner organisations and post their own events. The portal also links to the National Career Service and a CV builder.

NSS: volunteering through your college or school

The National Service Scheme is a central sector scheme of the youth affairs ministry for students in Classes 11 and 12, and at technical institutions, colleges and universities. The NSS website describes its aim as giving young students hands-on experience of community service.

How it works in practice:

Join through your institution. NSS is run by units attached to colleges and schools, each with a programme officer from the teaching staff. Ask your college office or NSS programme officer at the start of the academic year.
Two-year commitment. Volunteers usually serve two years, with at least 120 hours of community work a year, plus a residential special camp in an adopted village or area, as described by the AIIMS NSS unit. Camp length differs between institutions, so check your university’s rules.
Certificates. Colleges issue NSS certificates on completion, and many count NSS towards extension or co-curricular credits.

NSS began in 1969, the Gandhi birth centenary year. By the end of 2020 it had about 36.58 lakh volunteers in 39,695 units across 391 universities, according to a Raj Bhavan release from February 2021, issued when the Governor met the Tamil Nadu NSS contingent for the Republic Day parade.

Volunteering with the Corporation this monsoon

On 15 October 2026 the Greater Chennai Corporation held a consultation with volunteers and NGOs on northeast monsoon relief, according to its press release. The roles it listed include:

identifying low-lying and flood-prone streets in advance;
forming ward-level volunteer teams that work with Corporation officials;
checking on vulnerable residents, including infants, older people, persons with disabilities and patients who need medical help;
helping with rescue, and distributing food and relief material.

The release says volunteers can register through the Corporation’s official website. It also mentions 81 flood relief centres and 51 cooking centres being identified in zones 6 to 10.

Choosing the right route

Route	Who it suits	How to join
MY Bharat	Young people, students or not	Self-register online with OTP
NSS	Class 11-12 and college students	Through your school or college unit
GCC monsoon volunteers	Any resident who can help locally	Register on the Corporation website

Staying safe and getting credit

Official volunteering is free. No genuine MY Bharat, NSS or Corporation role asks you to pay a registration or “placement” fee, so treat any such request as a scam and report it on 1930. Read the full description of a MY Bharat opportunity before applying: it should name the host organisation, the place, the dates and the hours expected. For monsoon work, go out only with a team that a Corporation official knows about, and never wade into flowing water or go near fallen power lines. Students under 18 should have a parent’s consent for field work.

Whichever you choose, keep a record of what you did and when, with photos and a supervisor’s name. Colleges and employers increasingly ask for it.

Quick answers

Is MY Bharat registration free?

Yes. You register on mybharat.gov.in with a mobile number or email and an OTP.

Can I join NSS without being a student?

No. NSS is for students enrolled in participating schools, colleges and universities. Non-students can use MY Bharat instead.

How many young people in Tamil Nadu are on MY Bharat?

6,76,430 as of a Lok Sabha reply dated 3 February 2025.

Information checked against official sources on 18 October 2026. Fees, dates and rules can change; confirm on the linked official pages before acting.